SYNOPSIS: A mysterious woman stranded by the side of the road hitches a ride with a passing stranger, neither of them is who they seem.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Bears Fonte is the Founder and Executive Director of Other Worlds Austin, a festival in Texas’ capital focused on SciFi. Prior to that, Bears served as director of programming for Austin Film Festival from 2012-14, overseeing some 200 films selected to screen at eight venues over eight days. The 2013 Festival saw 28 world premiere features and seven films picked up at the festival or the week after. Bears also serves as a consultant for film festivals and filmmakers beginning the film festival circuit. This year alone has been working on the launch of the Greenwich International Film Festival, Alexander Valley Film Festival, and the St. Lawrence International Film Festival, where he is also serving ad the Director of Programming. Bears is also programming for SF Indiefest, and a few other places. He also writes for AMFM Magazine covering indie film and the festival circuit. His most recent short film, “The Secret Keeper”, has been selected by over 35 US film festivals since September of 2012. His feature thriller “iCRIME,” which he wrote and directed, was released on DVD, VOD and streaming by Vicious Circle Films in 2011. Bears also self-produced two web-series which have been seen by a combined 10 million viewers.

DIRECTOR Q&A

What sparked your creativity to make this film?

The idea behind the film is based on the Indian version of the Succubus. Unlike the western version, which casts these female sex vampires in pretty negative light, in India, the ‘Yakshi’ is often a woman who has been wronged by a man (usually killed during rape), and wanders abandoned roads until they can have their revenge. This revenge was usually not on the person who wronged them, but rather some other male who just happened to be passing by. I took this legend and put it in a modern context, and made the women, well, not dead. I wanted to spin the usual stalker and prey set-up and see how we could toy with the audience about who is good and who is bad. I also liked the idea of ‘sex as a weapon’ – which is always a part of vampire and succubus stories – and making that a force for good.

What do you hope audiences to take away from your film?

It’s just an opportunity for a good time. No attempt to be deep. But I wanted to create a great role for Sara Fletcher who is my absolute favorite actress in the world, one that would empower her to be both sexy and strong. We also set a lot of difficult obstacles in our way, like having most of the film in a car while driving. To keep that exciting, and then to do a fight scene on top of that, these were things I felt like we could really enjoy tackling. For me, making the film was an exercise in following some pretty specific criteria from the Film Prize, but also creating something that I think could play several other festivals afterwards – which is the end goal for this short, to get the great work done by Sara and Andrew our cinematographer and everyone else out on the festival circuit for maximum exposure. Sure, I’d love the award here at the Film Prize, but for me, the festival was an excuse to get back to making films, as it has been a few years. I just want to entertain the audience, to thank them for the opportunity to create something for them.

Where in Shreveport-Bossier did you shoot and why did you select that/those locations?

A majority of the film was shot on Mooringsport, along Mooringsport-Latex Road and Dayton Road because I loved the look of the trees that overhung the road and the old creek crossing we found. It is something you would just drive over and not notice, but if you stop, there is all this nature all around. And an abandoned sofa dumped in the creek – sort of fitting for the tone of the film. We drove back and forth on that road for a day and a half, then had to edit out shots where there were in houses passing by in the background out the windows. The final scene of the film was shot at the Travelodge in Shreveport because I loved the concrete lattice of the wall in the outdoor hallway. We also stayed there as a cast and crew since a majority of us were from out of town.

What was the most exciting day on set? Why?

Wow, well if you remember the last weekend in May, it was the end of the torrential downpours that covered Louisiana and Texas. So we lost half a day shooting because we had to mount the camera on the outside of the car, which we were pulling on a trailer. And then we realized that in bringing the trailer out from Shreveport, it had gotten a flat. So "Roadside Assistance" needed roadside assistance. When we finally got it up and running, we only had a few hours to get all the shots we needed for the day. We worked really fast but the team was so great we didn’t miss anything we really needed.

I’ve heard independent film is a tough business. Is the Louisiana Film Prize a good resource for an independent filmmaker? If so, why?

I think all film festivals are great resources for filmmakers. I actually program three different ones. We all need the opportunity to show our work and film festivals, by their curatorial nature, can really make someone’s work stand out from the rabble. I never understand when a filmmaker just puts their latest film up on you tube or vimeo without making a festival run first – it just disappears into maelstrom. The Louisiana Film Prize is especially good because it is encouraging shorts filmmakers, which don’t get enough attention ever, and it offers a huge cash prize. Because the film needs to be made specifically for the film prize, it inspires artists to make new work, moving their career forward. Every film you make is a learning experience. I really enjoyed crafting a script under the constraints of the rules of the Film Prize – it got my mind muscles to exercise in a different manner. From a community aspect, I love the idea of mobilizing local talent to make their own films and to serve as crew for us out-of-towners. I had the fortunate opportunity to work with several local artists who were an amazing asset to the production.